Street Sweeper

Clifton & Co. published many studio-posed, ethnographic type postcards like this one, made from an albumen print with the firm's title and name inscribed in the negative and visible at the bottom of the frame on this court-sized card. The late-1890s plague crisis in Bombay also intensified official attention to street cleanliness and sanitation enforcement, making municipal sweepers emblematic of civic sense; at the same time the subject carries some dignity which must contributed to this view becoming very popular in color versions as well.